But what happens when that one glass turns into two? Or three? Or four?

It turns out there's a fine line between safe alcohol consumption and unhealthy alcohol consumption. According to the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, if you're a woman and you're drinking more than seven drinks per week, or if you're a man and drinking more than 14 drinks per week, you're at a higher risk for developing alcohol use disorder.

Based on those statistics, high-risk drinking is astoundingly common in America. Think about it — how many nights in a row have you gone back for a second glass of wine after dinner, or cracked open a beer to sit down in front of the TV? The drinks add up fast, causing many people to ride the fine line that separates social drinking from dangerous drinking

If that's the case, the question is, how does an excessive drinking habit affect your health?

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1. It can contribute to weight gain.

Unfortunately, just because they feel special and adult-like, alcoholic beverages can be just as bad for you — calorie and sugar-wise — as soda and other sugary drinks. Familiar with the term beer belly? It's a real thing.

According to the BBC, the body doesn't have a way to store alcohol like it does other nutrients that come from food and drink. Rather it moves to the front of the line in the metabolic process, and the body has to go into overdrive in order to break it down. If you're enjoying some snacks — say, a stadium hot dog or some chicken wings — along with your cold one, there's a good chance those calories are going to stick around and turn into fat.

2. It can cause heart issues.

Too much drinking can increase your risk of high blood pressure.Kham/Reuters

Sticking to just one glass of your alcohol of choice per day is hard, and any more than that on a regular basis can actually have the opposite effect on your health, according to the Cleveland Clinic. Excessive drinking can weaken the heart, elicit an irregular heartbeat, and increase your risk of high blood pressure.

6. It damages the liver.

This is the side effect that's most common knowledge, but it doesn't make it any less important or serious. The liver has to do a lot of work to process alcohol, and doing it year after year can cause the liver to become inflamed, increasing your risk for developing cirrhosis and liver disease, Healthline reported.

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